Rapid City Fire Department saw more calls over the holiday weekend than normal

RAPID CITY, S.D.(KBHB) – The Rapid City Fire Department says they experienced a higher than normal call volume over the Fourth of July weekend.

In a release, the department says they responded to a total of 220 calls for service. Included in those calls were 35 separate fires reported from 7:00 a.m. July 3rd until 7:00 a.m. on July 6th.

Of those, 4 fires occurred in dumpsters while 31 were grass fires.

In 2020, there were a total of 204 calls for service during that same time period, 25 of those were fire related. In 2019, there were 170 calls for service and only 4 of those were fire related calls.

The Department also provided one additional apparatus from their department, as well as other apparatus staffed with crews from the Whispering Pines Volunteer Fire Department and North Haines Volunteer Fire Department to support the City of Rapid City fireworks show at the Executive Golf Course on July 4th.

Rapid City Fire Chief Jason Culberson says, crews responded quickly and were able to extinguish all fires in a timely manner, keeping the flames from spreading any further.